What if Pat Riley’s Move From Knicks to Heat Never Happened?

e there to gawk at the 19-year-old amateur who was making waves in the golf world: Tiger Woods.

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But it was Woods who stole the show, with his powerful drives and precise shots. He finished the day with a 74, a respectable score for an amateur playing in his first U.S. Open.

Woods went on to become one of the greatest golfers of all time, winning numerous major championships and breaking records along the way. But that day at Shinnecock Hills will always be remembered as the moment when a young Tiger Woods announced his arrival on the world stage.

icant aspects of the team’s operations. Unfortunately, these desires were not met.”

The Day New York City Shook

It was a day of seismic events. The US Open was being played at one of the country’s most beloved courses, and Tiger Woods was making his debut. The Devils were about to face off against the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals. And out in California, O.J. Simpson was trying on a glove that seemed a bit too tight.

But the news that shook the city that day was the resignation of Pat Riley from the Knicks. After four incredible seasons, in which he led the team to 223 wins and within a hair’s breadth of the NBA championship, Riley was quitting.

“GUTLESS!” screamed the back page of the newspaper. “QUITTER!” shouted the front page. And the fury only multiplied when it became apparent that Riley wasn’t leaving to find himself on a beach somewhere or to spend more time with his family. The Miami Heat had already agreed to each of his 14 demands, and the Knicks were left to settle for $4 million and Miami’s first-round draft pick in 1996.

“No team can realize its potential when its head coach, the person most intimately involved with the players, cannot make final, critical decisions on matters bearing directly and intensely on the team, its performance and its future,” Riley had written in the most famous fax in NBA history. “I consistently and repeatedly expressed my desire and need to be charged with the ultimate responsibility for all significant aspects of the team’s operations. Unfortunately, these desires were not met.”

The Day Tiger Woods Shook the Ground

But let’s go back to the beginning of that fateful day. Tiger Woods was playing his first Open, and the grounds shook with each birdie he made. Even the seasoned pros were intrigued by the 19-year-old junior member of the group.

Later, as Price happily spoke of the craziness, another bolt of thunder sounded a few feet away. The commotion was summed up in two words by one fellow in green slacks and a yellow Izod shirt who had a flip-phone pressed to his ear: “Holy s–t!”

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The Sliding-Doors Mystery of Pat Riley and the Knicks

Back in 1995, Pat Riley left the New York Knicks, the team he had turned into the hottest ticket in town. He had grown restless due to the Knicks changing hands between three different corporate owners in the previous seven years. Despite his best efforts, an agreement could not be reached, and the gap between them remained. But what if that gap had been bridged? What if there could have been an agreement?

Imagine how different the NBA would be if the Knicks had been the Heat for the last 28 years. It’s a question that fascinates everyone, including those who knew Riley well then and know him well still. They believe that if Riley had never left, there would be at least three or four more banners in the rafters. None. It is impossible to believe otherwise.

The Fundamental Problem

There are some fundamental problems with just trading in the Knicks’ recent history for the Heat’s, and one foundational one. A reason Riley had grown restless was because the Knicks had changed hands between three different corporate owners in the previous seven years. Not long after Riley left the Knicks, James L. Dolan was installed by his father to oversee his Garden interests. And in 1997, Cablevision bought out ITT, meaning Dolan now ran the entire operation. And at first glance, the marriage between Riley and Dolan seems more doomed than any nuptial involving a Kardashian.

Except …

“Let’s be brutally honest: Dolan is a star-f–ker,” one of Riley’s old associates said. “Look at how long he let Isiah Thomas run the show. Look at how long he put up with Glen Sather. And those guys won s–t for him. If Pat kept the Knicks where they were supposed to be?”

Added another: “And the one thing nobody has ever said about Dolan is that he’s cheap. He’d have paid Pat every nickel he wanted, given him a fleet of private planes if he kept winning.

The Lingering Questions

A few lingering questions remain in the hearts and minds of Knicks fans who lived through that era:

• What if that gap had been bridged?
• What if the 95th U.S. Open had been interrupted because Peter Vecsey had just reported that the Knicks had given Riley much of what the Heat soon gave him?
• What if Riley had never left?

These questions are a sliding-doors mystery that is equal parts fascinating and depressing. But one thing is for sure: if Riley had stayed with the Knicks, the NBA would be a very different league today.

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What if Pat Riley stayed with the Knicks?

Imagine a world where Pat Riley never left the New York Knicks. A world where he continued to coach and eventually transitioned into a front office role, building championship teams year after year. It’s a world that could have been, and one that Riley’s old friends and associates still ponder.

The missed opportunity

In 1995, Riley shocked the city when he left the Knicks for the Miami Heat. It was a move that changed the course of both franchises. The Knicks struggled to find success without Riley, while the Heat went on to win three championships with him at the helm.

But what if Riley had stayed in New York? One of the reasons Paramount dumped the Garden was because in 1994, the whole operation made just $12 million profit. In 2022, that number was $84 million. If a better basketball product would’ve meant a fatter bottom line, Riley, as a minority owner, would’ve shared in the bounty.

The potential success

If the Knicks had met Riley’s demands, he could’ve had the same security in New York, assuming he’d delivered the same success. And who’s to say he couldn’t have convinced LeBron James to be a Knick the way he talked him into playing for the Heat? Even now, who else can tell a Kevin Durant or a Joel Embiid: ‘You want references? Start with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.’

Riley’s old mates all believe he would’ve coached at least 10 more years, then handed the reins over to someone he’d groomed and focused on assembling title-worthy teams all year. And that’s maybe the most important thing to realize. Dolan handed the keys to the castle to Phil Jackson, maybe the best coach who’d never spent a minute in an NBA front office. It’s not a sure thing you can do both things well. Riley has done both things well. He has won four titles as a coach, one as a coach and president, and two more as strictly a president.

The missed opportunity, continued

And if that had happened in New York instead of Miami, at one of the league’s charter franchises and not with an expansion team? “It makes you want to cry, doesn’t it?” one of Riley’s friends said.

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The Dream of Coaching in New York

“I could have seen myself ending my career in New York, even though I don’t know if any coach could ever last that long there. I had great respect for Red Holzman, and admired the job he did. He’s the only coach up there in the [Garden’s] rafters. I used to envision my name next to his one day.”

These are the words of Riley, a former coach, who dreamed of coaching in New York and leaving his mark on the city. But he’s not the only one with this dream.

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